It’s
been a good week, lots of progression within my respective projects has occurred,
as well as a completely new video inspired by video games and the stigmas that
surround the gaming industry. As this term draws to a close however, I’m beginning
to feel tired and slightly defeated for one reason or another; the repetition
of the weeks and the months slowly inverting in on themselves, making
everything feel distorted. I don’t know what I’m looking forward to, as I feel
slightly lost at the moment. Hopefully this feeling will change.
The
canvas that I ordered last week arrived on Monday and, to my dismay, wasn’t as
aesthetically pleasing as I had wanted it to be. It just didn’t feel ‘right’
for some reason. I then ordered a second one which arrived on Thursday, which
was also slightly weird. I don’t think they work as individual pieces so I’m
looking into incorporating them into an installation. My first thought was to
print onto fabric another of the windowed images and then position it behind the
canvases, windows within windows. This then transformed into a new idea, where
the image would be printed onto a fabric (preferably a bed sheet to consider
how a lot of our time exploring the internet occurs when we’re in bed) and hung
from two television wall mounts, allowing the material to fold and crumple. The
use of the mount evokes the image of the screen, in a way transforming the
image back into the realm of the digital. Letting the material do what it wants
considers how, when the internet was created, Tim Berners-Lee simply released the
concept of the internet for free, letting people see how it was created so that
it could be built upon by anyone, with knowledge being the only restrictor. The
crumpling also looks at how misshapen the internet has become since it was
created, being monitored by governments as well as turning into a giant
advertising machine. Hopefully at some point this week I will be able to print
this image onto a fabric so that I can actually create this installation, with
the previous canvas pieces featuring in some way.
I
also started to distort the screenshot images slightly so that it doesn’t look
like I’ve simply taken a screenshot on my computer. These distortions create a
sort of ‘uncanny valley’ feeling, where you recognise what’s happening in the
image but it’s slightly off, be it that the text is slightly blurry or one of
the windows is slowly curving in on itself. I hope that these small changes
will draw the viewer in, getting the participant to actually interact with the
work, googling some of the references within the pieces to actually know what’s
going on. This comes back to the Tess Flanders’ idea that ‘a picture is worth a
thousand words’, similar to how photographs are able to tell a whole narrative
with the one image. This is kind of what I want from the digital collages that
I’m creating.
As
well as this I’ve been working further on my data sculptures. I decided that
instead of simply dumping the data I would create a sort of game within the
filing system, where there would be folders within folders, some leading to
dead ends whilst others would take you on a journey through personal images and
files.
After
creating one such system I decided to re-think everything. Making this
maze-like structure within the individual sticks had begun to feel trivial,
turning the content from something serious into a game within itself. So I
decided that instead of having an abundance of files within files I would
simply have one or two files in each USB stick. This is where I am at the moment,
deciding which image/video/file to include in each monolith. It will definitely
be something personal, but beautiful at the same time, like a blurry image
capturing a point in time that has been long forgotten by the people in it. I
need to figure out what I want.
I
did successfully implant one of the USBs into a block, which I’m very happy about.
I spent some time considering the positions of the individual USBs and decided
that there would be a – sort of – hierarchical system imposed, where one stick
would be really hard to get to (making you turn your laptop upside down whilst
constantly holding onto it, for example) and another may be easy to access (a
cable poking out of the block, allowing one to position a laptop in any way they
want). This give and take relationship with the viewer simulates the ‘different
levels’ of hacking, as well as the many different threads in any given thing.
The files in the easier to access USBs won’t be ‘as good’ as the files in the more
complicated ones. I still need to consider this further though, the different interactivity
levels among other things.
Harnessing
the world of Grand Theft Auto 5 I created a video where – for around 15 minutes
– a person drives around the world in first person. Instead of hitting into
other cars and getting into police chases the driver instead controls the car
as if they were in the real world, stopping for red lights and sticking to the
speed limits. This work is thinking about how video games in general and GTA in
particular are seen as violent and ‘bad for you’. The very mundane driving is
punctured at times by small violent acts, a police siren blearing, a dog being
run over or another car bumping against your own. These subtle hints towards
other aspects of the game are there to remind you that there is violence in
video games, but that that shouldn’t colour your whole idea of the video game industry
in general. I really like the idea of placing the viewer in the shoes of the individual
driving the car, this is done by having the video in first person but will be
enhanced further by a few installation ideas that I’ve been thinking about, be
it placing a controller on the floor next to the TV as if you’re able to play
the video game or by having the video projected onto the windscreen of a car? I’m
not sure as of this moment, but I do intend to consider it further during the
week ahead so that I can document the work ‘in situ’ before the term ends. The files too big to post it here so I'll just leave a link to an early version.
https://vimeo.com/157568477#at=1
The
collaboration with Laila is going well, at the moment we’re making a range of
very short clips which will be collated and made into something at some point. The
blending of the videos will effectively ‘marry’ our two distinct styles
together so that it’ll be an amalgamation of our work, which is basically what
a collab should be anyway.
Also
this week I went to a number of exhibitions. A particular favourite was Das
Institut at the Serpentine, where everything was being considered as a work of
art, from the MDF walls that artworks were being displayed upon to an emergency
exit. This ‘highlighting of the space’ made you carefully consider every detail
of the gallery which really interested me. This made me think about Trisha
Donnelly and her show at the Serpentine in 2014, the subtle changes to the
space accompanied by the lack of labels. The physical work that was being
displayed didn’t really interest me though, which was a shame. The exhibition
in the other Serpentine was unexciting paintings though, which seems to be
becoming a trend which is slightly irritating, where the Sackler has great work
and the main building has terrible work.
Annely
Juda Fine Art had a similar thing happening, where one floor was incredibly interesting
(a show involving data and the different ways it can be displayed/observed by
Philipp Goldbach) whilst the other was incredibly dull with a series of
abstract paintings. Hauser and Wirth too with both of their spaces housing work
by Mark Wallinger. The first space was full of interesting work, like a four
channel video piece that featured a tree in each of the four seasons or the
beautiful but distressing Superego. In
contrast to this, the second gallery had a series of ‘Rorschach-esque’ paintings
which were not interesting. The idea of the Rorschach has been so overdone in
the past that it shouldn’t be re-visited for a while. Fortunately this wasn’t
the case with Sadie Coles HQ which had an exhibition full of sculptures and
installations. The use of plastic curtains tainted the gallery with an off
putting surgical smell, which added to the overall ‘cloaking’ effect that resonated
throughout the work that was being shown. Another great exhibition experience occurred
when I went to Pace London and got to see a variety of works by Haroon Mirza
and Žilvinas Kempinas, which is always good.
Evelyn
Yard was also exciting, with a mass of work thrown into the tiny space. I was a
big fan of a variety of the works, especially Shana Moulton’s MindPlace ThoughtStream video piece that
worked on many levels. I also went to the Curve gallery, but to my dismay the
gallery was full of tiny paintings that did not excite me at all. The final exhibition
of the week was a third year interim show at Chelsea. The triangle space was
full of video works, which was a bold decision that made the whole experience a
bit overwhelming. One of my favourite pieces was a video created by John Hui
that interspersed video game footage with real life video of a woman talking
about her experiences with video games. My kind of work.
On
top of going to see art, I also went to a number of performances at the
Barbican called Table Top Shakespeare.
Each performance (lasting only 45 minutes) would tell one of Shakespeare’s
plays using a variety of everyday products to represent people and objects. The
single cast member would then tell the tale to the audience whilst manipulating
these objects on a table. I really enjoyed each performance, especially the
ones where I already knew a vague outline of the play, so that I could get the
references that occurred with the chosen objects. For example, in Hamlet the ghost
of Hamlet was a cheese grater, which was incredibly amusing. I saw six of the
plays in total, Othello, Titus Andronicus, The Merchant of Venice, Troilus and
Cressida, Antony and Cleopatra and finally Hamlet.
A
few lectures and seminars occurred throughout the week, starting with post
digital art, which was enjoyable but very similar to the presentations that
were given in the workshops that I had had a few weeks ago. It was definitely
worth going, it just felt a little like the information had been recycled and re-purposed
for a different setting. The Monday lecture was on Fanon and Subjectivity,
which brought up a series of interesting discussion points centred on how we
look at different artworks and interpret them in a variety of ways. The ‘mega
seminar’ on Friday was also extremely thought provoking, with so many things
central to my practice being brought up and talked about that it was hard to
keep up.
A
few other notable things occurred this week, such as watching a number of films,
some relating to my practice and others for pure enjoyment. The Internet’s Own Boy: The story of Aaron
Swartz did a good job of educating me about Swartz and what he did for the
internet in terms of ‘pushing the boulder further up the mountain’. Bitcoin: The End of Money as We Know It
was another good one, which brought up a few key points that I hadn’t gotten
from previous films about Bitcoin. It did more to actually explain what it was
rather than talking about its rise to fame. Panopticon
actually scared me a little at times, in terms of thinking about how much
surveillance is occurring around the world at the moment. Hackers Are People Too was also very well received, bringing me
back to the TEDx talk by Evan Roth ‘Artists are Hackers’. The Lady in the Van was truly distressing with an amazing
performance by Maggie Smith. Mustang was
also very stressful and disheartening. Kung
Fu Panda 3 occurred, which wasn’t that interesting, which is a bit of a
shame, although anyone could have probably told me that. Barton Fink was good, if a little disjointed at times, which I
assume was purposeful. The final film was Psycho
at the cinema, a truly ‘delightful’ experience to watch on the ‘big screen’.
I
watched a series called Mission Hill which was really spectacular. It made me
reflect a lot on my own life, which is something of a feat for an Adult Swim
cartoon. It’s sad that it only had one season.
As
well as this I began reading The Heretic’s Guide to Global Finance, which is
very informative and interesting. It’s written by Brett Scott, who I saw at a
panel a while ago.
I
think that’s everything this week. It’s beginning to slowly sink in that
another term has nearly gone by, it went worryingly fast, before I know it uni
will be over and I’ll have to start living in the real world. It’s a weird
feeling. I don’t think I like the concept of time…
In
the coming week a few things are happening, from tutorials with the visiting
artist to a discussion surrounding the essays that we have to write (something
I’m yet to even consider). I plan to continue working on my data blocks,
choosing carefully which files to show alongside further considerations for
what the screen grab pieces should turn into. I also need to think about my
essay a lot.
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